


The Tower and the Borzoi

by MotherInLore



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Original Work
Genre: Animal Transformation, F/M, Magic, what goes around comes around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 03:56:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13045989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherInLore/pseuds/MotherInLore
Summary: This thing's been knocking around in my head for a while.  Contains elements of Firebird, the Red Calf, Pome and Peel, and another obscure one I can't remember the name of, but it's its own thing.





	The Tower and the Borzoi

“You!” cried the Master of the Tower, “You betrayed me!” 

“That may be so,” said the Borzoi, and bit down. While the Master fought free of the dog, the Prince let his arrow go. It flew straight, piercing the tapestry and the wizard's heart hidden behind it.

The Master gave a great cry, and then collapsed into a pile of dust that quickly blew away on the wind.

“The tower is yours now,” said the Borzoi to the Prince, “and the Tsarina and the other captive maidens are at the top of it. Go there, take the jewel from the hilt of the Master's sword and place it in the Master's cup, then fill the cup with the wine you will find there and set it alight. Before the flames have died, pour the wine at the feet of your chosen bride.”

At the top of the tower, the Prince found the wine, and the cup, and the sword, but at first he did not see the Tsarina, or anyone else. Then he realized that the twelve windows around the tower were all of stained glass, and in each window was the portrait of a beauteous maiden. The twelfth window showed the Tsarina, in an embroidered gown, with jewels set in her long, golden hair. The Prince poured wine into the cup with the jewel, and the jewel dissolved. The Prince set the cup alight. Though wine does not burn, the cup nonetheless lit with a blue flame, and he poured out the burning wine at the Tsarina's feet. At once, she came to life, and stepped down from the window, and took the Prince's hand in hers.

Later, when the Prince and the Tsarina came together back down the stairs to the throne room, the Borzoi stretched herself in a bow before them. “May you be happy together,” said the Borzoi.

“My friend,” said the Prince, “I could never have won the day without you. How shall I reward you?”

“Cut off my head with your sword,” said the Borzoi, and the Tsarina gasped, and the Prince frowned.

“My friend,” said the Prince, “It would break my heart to kill you, and besides: now I must learn to rule the Tower and its lands. I will need your wisdom and loyalty. Please, let me give you a house of your own, where you may live at your ease and never work or hunt again except when you wish to. Please, sit at my right hand and let me share the finest foods of my table with you. Do not leave me friendless in this enchanted place.”

“Very well,” said the Borzoi, and so it was. The Prince and the Tsarina married, and lived in the wizard's Tower. The Borzoi lived with them, and with his friend's help, the Prince learned to work the spells that summoned fine food to the table, and kept the fires alight without wood, and all the other wonders of the Tower.

Sadly, a year later, the Tsarina died giving birth to their first child, and the baby died too. The Prince mourned them bitterly, but one day, after a long time, he found his way to the top of the tower, and he looked at the one clear window and the eleven windows that held the portraits of the Tower Master's other beautiful captives. After that he went and found the Borzoi.

“Borzoi,” he said, “Will you help me to find or make a jewel like the one that was in the Tower Master's sword, and wine like the wine that was in the top of the tower, that will let me free the captives from their windows?”

The Borzoi agreed, and after three years and many adventures, the Prince poured the flaming cup out at the feet of the Sultana, and there were two clear windows in the tower. This time, the Prince did not ask the Borzoi what reward she wanted. 

When there were nine clear windows in the tower, and the Prince went seeking for another jewel, the Borzoi did not come with him. “I am too old,” she said. She slept in the house the Prince had given her, and wandered in the woods. One day she wandered so far she did not come back. It did not matter, though, because by this time the Prince had learned all the wizard's spells and invented a few new ones, and was truly the Master of the Tower. When there were eleven clear windows at the top of the tower, and eleven graves in the tower grounds (they did not all die in childbirth; one or two of them had died when one of the Prince's spells went wrong, and one had killed herself in grief when she learned that a hundred years had passed while she was imprisoned, and her lover was long dead), the Prince met on his travels a Maharani of surpassing beauty and wit, who was in danger from a scheming Vizier. “I know a spell that will keep you safe,” the Prince told her. “You will stay in an exquisite palace made all of glass, in a place the vizier will never find you.” When the Prince returned to the tower, he freed the last of the old Master's captives and took her for his bride, but by the time he dug her grave, there were only three clear windows in the top of the Tower.

Sometimes, during his long life, various enemies and evildoers tried to attack the Prince in his Tower, but they were never as powerful as he was, and besides, he had mastered the spell that allowed him to hide his heart in a magical casket, hidden behind a tapestry in the throne room. His attackers rarely got far enough past his defenses to find this out.

However, a day came when the young Knight who came to the Tower seemed to know all its tricks and secrets, and had penetrated to the throne room at the very heart of the tower before he was caught. When the Master of the Tower found him, he was actually aiming his crossbow at the tapestry that concealed the magical casket. The Master of the Tower raised his hands to call down a bolt of fire, and burn the Knight where he stood, but a heavy weight landed on his shoulders, knocking him off-balance. When he turned, he found himself face to face with the Borzoi, who was lunging at him, mouth open, ready to bite him on his arm or his throat. “You!” cried the Master of the Tower, “You betrayed me!”

“That may be so,” said the Borzoi, and bit down.

 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

 

I do not know how many times this happened. The people who lived in the lands ruled by the Tower did not much attend to the comings and goings of its Master, nor to those of his enemies, except in the rare cases where the enemies brought troops of soldiers with them. If they told stories of a magical Borzoi in the woods, the priests and the scholars did not write them down. I do know, however, that this is not still happening today, and I know how that came about.

It once came to pass that the Master of the Tower captured a Princess who had already been married. When her husband came to rescue her, he brought someone with him.

The Prince went by the name of Apple, and his companion was the son of his mother's servingwoman: a young man called Peel. The two of them had lived close as brothers all their lives long, and indeed, some people whispered that they were brothers in truth, both sons of the same father, but Apple and Peel never said anything about this. Peel had served Prince Apple well for many years, and had shown his loyalty many times, even saving his life, more than once, at risk of his own. So when the Master of the Tower stole Apple's wife and Apple went to rescue her, Peel came to help, and in the course of things made the acquaintance of the Borzoi. When Apple and the Borzoi defeated the Master of the Tower, and Apple took the jeweled sword up to the top of the Tower to free his wife, Peel stayed behind in the throne room with the Borzoi.

“Do you know, Borzoi,” Peel asked, “If the captives in the tower suffer?

“They do not suffer,” the Borzoi answered. “They know nothing for all the time they are held in the enchanted windows. If they suffered, the second part of the spell would not work; the jewel frees the maidens from the glass, and the wine at their feet ensures that they will fall in love with the first person they see as they step out. But the love spell does not work if they are unhappy or afraid.”

Prince Apple and his wife soon came back down the Tower stairs together, and Peel and the Borzoi made their bows to them. “Now that the Master is no more,” said the Borzoi, “The Tower and its lands are yours.”

“Well then,” said Prince Apple,”I will give them to my brother Peel, who has served me well and faithfully all the years of my life, and my bride and I will return to our own country. Perhaps,” he said to his faithful servant, “you will one day find a way to free one of the other captives, and so win a bride of your own.” 

“Perhaps I shall,” Peel replied, “but in the meantime, it is unfair to reward me if you do not also mean to thank the Borzoi. Had she not helped us, we would never have found our way to the throne room, and had she not attacked the Master of the Tower, he surely would have killed us both. Borzoi, how can we repay you?”

“Cut off my head with your sword,” said the Borzoi, and the Princess gasped, and Prince Apple frowned.

“My friend,” said Prince Apple, “It would break my heart to kill you, and besides, now Peel must learn to rule the Tower and its lands, and he is unused to ruling; he will need your wisdom and loyalty. Please, let us give you a house of your own, where you may live at your ease and never work or hunt again except when you wish to. Please, sit at Peel's right hand and let him share the finest foods of his table with you. Do not leave my brother friendless in this enchanted place.”

“Very well,” said the Borzoi, and soon afterward Prince Apple and his wife embraced Peel and took their leave, and went back to their own country.

“I hope Apple will be all right without me,” Peel said, “His wife seems like a sensible woman, at least.” He turned to the Borzoi. “Now,” he said, “Where would you like to stand while I cut off your head?”

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The Borzoi chose a sunny spot in the Tower gardens, with soft green grass and sweet iris and heliotrope flowers all around, scenting the air. She held very still, with her neck stretched out, while Peel swung his sword.

When Peel straightened up from the swing, there was a woman crouched in front of him, on her hands and knees, where the Borzoi had stood. Her dress was white as the Borzoi's coat had been, and her long hair was the same ginger-brown color as the Borzoi's ears. Peel's sword was stuck in the ground, in the soft grass just beneath her neck. 

The lady slowly sat up onto her knees, and looked into Peel's face with the same dark brown eyes the Borzoi had had. “Thank you,” she said. “I have led Princes to the Tower many times over, and helped to defeat many Masters, but only you have ever granted my request afterward, and now I have been freed from my father's spell.”

“My name is Sonja,” the lady explained, “and my father was the first Master of the Tower, many long years ago. He was, I believe, a good man at the beginning; when I was young he cared for me and taught me all he knew. I used to help him with his studies and his spells. But as he grew older and more powerful, he ceased to care whether he did right or wrong, but cared only for himself and what he wanted.

“One day, he wanted me to help him summon a dragon that would lay waste to half the country. I refused, and he accused me of disloyalty. 'A daughter must obey her father,' he told me, and I answered, 'I need not put my own soul in danger for the sake of obedience. I am your daughter, not your dog.' 'We'll soon see about that,' he said, and in that very moment he cast a great magic and transformed me into a Borzoi. He told me I would never be restored to myself until I found someone who would cut my head off when I had been useful to them, and would be willing to go against their own wishes out of loyalty to me. I still would not serve him, and I ran away into the forest.

“Since that time,” she went on, “I have led many, many heroes to the Tower, and helped them as I could. Some perished, and the others behaved as my father did: slowly, they gave up their old kindnesses in the pursuit of power, and came to care for nothing and no one but themselves. I do not know if there is some corrupting influence in the Tower that makes it so, or if this is simply the nature of heroes that have triumphed, but whenever it happened, I ran away to the forest again.”

Peel listened with amazement to Sonja's tale, and when she had done, he exclaimed, “Why, if all this is true, then the Tower was not Apple's to give away, nor mine to take, but yours: Yours by right of inheritance, as your father's daughter, and yours by right of conquest, for you have waged a long campaign against the Masters of the Tower, and my brother and I joined only in the last battle.”

The wizard's daughter smiled a little, and she said, “Maybe so, but I could not have won the day without you. How shall I reward you?”

“If you will allow it,” said Peel, “perhaps you could give me a house of my own, where I may live at my ease and never work again, except when I wish to. I should like leave to hunt in your forest, and perhaps I might have the use of a tree or two in your orchards, for I am fond of apples.”

Sonja the wizard's daughter smiled a little more broadly, and asked, “Do you wish also to sit at my right hand, and share the finest foods of my table?”

“Perhaps from time to time,” said Peel. “I do not want to leave you friendless in this enchanted place.”

Then Sonja grew very serious and said, “if you wish to be my friend, will you help me to cleanse the Tower of my father's greed and evil magic?”

“I will do that,” said Peel, “and I promise, if we fail to cleanse the tower, and if one day you care for nothing but yourself and your power, I will cut off your head all over again.”

“If you will do all of that, and be loyal to me, but more loyal to the good in me,” said the wizard's daughter, “I will share all the tower's treasure with you, and I will teach you all the wonders I know. I will make you a jewel to free an Infanta from her enchanted window, and a cup of wine to pour at her feet and make her love you.”

“If I had such a cup,” Peel replied, “I would pour it at your feet, and let the Infanta go on dreaming in her glass castle.”

“Then we will go to the top of the tower now,” said Sonja, “and fill the cup together. We will stand facing each other, and pour the burning wine out between us. We shall both love each other all our lives long.”

And so it was. They lived happily for many years, not in the Tower, but in the little house at the edge of the wood that the first Prince had made for the Borzoi long ago. They came to the Tower only now and then, and carefully, never staying long. From time to time, a Hero would hear of the Tower, and come looking for the maidens trapped there; Peel and Sonja would tell him how to win an enchanted jewel to free a bride, but they did not teach anyone the love spell, and whether those other Princes and their brides lived happily I do not know. I do know that a year and a day from when the last Dauphiness stepped out of the last window, the Tower made a great groaning sound like a cry, and fell away to dust, leaving behind only the Borzoi's house.


End file.
